diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 2dbcd88bf..753adf9ba 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -81,9 +81,19 @@
                     <groupId>commons-logging</groupId>
                     <artifactId>commons-logging</artifactId>
                 </exclusion>
+                <exclusion>
+                    <groupId>org.elasticsearch.plugin</groupId>
+                    <artifactId>transport-netty3-client</artifactId>
+                </exclusion>
             </exclusions>
         </dependency>
 
+        <dependency>
+            <groupId>org.elasticsearch.plugin</groupId>
+            <artifactId>transport-netty4-client</artifactId>
+            <version>${elasticsearch}</version>
+        </dependency>
+
         <dependency>
             <groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
             <artifactId>log4j-over-slf4j</artifactId>
@@ -162,14 +172,6 @@
             <scope>test</scope>
         </dependency>
 
-        <dependency>
-      <!-- required by elasticsearch -->
-            <groupId>org.elasticsearch.plugin</groupId>
-            <artifactId>transport-netty4-client</artifactId>
-            <version>${elasticsearch}</version>
-            <!--<scope>test</scope>-->
-        </dependency>
-
         <dependency>
             <groupId>org.projectlombok</groupId>
             <artifactId>lombok</artifactId>
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/elasticsearch/client/TransportClientFactoryBean.java b/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/elasticsearch/client/TransportClientFactoryBean.java
index 2d4ee0f91..515608183 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/elasticsearch/client/TransportClientFactoryBean.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/elasticsearch/client/TransportClientFactoryBean.java
@@ -17,12 +17,29 @@ package org.springframework.data.elasticsearch.client;
 
 import static org.apache.commons.lang.StringUtils.*;
 
+import io.netty.util.ThreadDeathWatcher;
+import io.netty.util.concurrent.GlobalEventExecutor;
+
 import java.net.InetAddress;
+import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.Arrays;
+import java.util.Collection;
+import java.util.Collections;
+import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Properties;
+import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
 
 import org.elasticsearch.client.transport.TransportClient;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.SuppressForbidden;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.network.NetworkModule;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.transport.InetSocketTransportAddress;
+import org.elasticsearch.index.reindex.ReindexPlugin;
+import org.elasticsearch.join.ParentJoinPlugin;
+import org.elasticsearch.percolator.PercolatorPlugin;
+import org.elasticsearch.plugins.Plugin;
+import org.elasticsearch.script.mustache.MustachePlugin;
+import org.elasticsearch.transport.Netty4Plugin;
 import org.elasticsearch.transport.client.PreBuiltTransportClient;
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
@@ -30,6 +47,7 @@ import org.springframework.beans.factory.DisposableBean;
 import org.springframework.beans.factory.FactoryBean;
 import org.springframework.beans.factory.InitializingBean;
 import org.springframework.util.Assert;
+import org.springframework.util.ClassUtils;
 
 /**
  * TransportClientFactoryBean
@@ -88,7 +106,7 @@ public class TransportClientFactoryBean implements FactoryBean<TransportClient>,
 
 	protected void buildClient() throws Exception {
 
-		client = new PreBuiltTransportClient(settings());
+		client = new SpringDataTransportClient(settings());
 		Assert.hasText(clusterNodes, "[Assertion failed] clusterNodes settings missing.");
 		for (String clusterNode : split(clusterNodes, COMMA)) {
 			String hostName = substringBeforeLast(clusterNode, COLON);
@@ -153,4 +171,97 @@ public class TransportClientFactoryBean implements FactoryBean<TransportClient>,
 	public void setProperties(Properties properties) {
 		this.properties = properties;
 	}
+	
+	/**
+	 * Pretty exact copy of {@link PreBuiltTransportClient} except that we're inspecting the classpath for Netty
+	 * dependencies to only include the ones available. {@link PreBuiltTransportClient} expects both Netty 3 and Netty 4
+	 * to be present.
+	 *
+	 * @author Oliver Gierke
+	 * @see https://github.com/elastic/elasticsearch/issues/31240
+	 */
+	@SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
+	private static class SpringDataTransportClient extends TransportClient {
+
+		/**
+		 * Netty wants to do some unwelcome things like use unsafe and replace a private field, or use a poorly considered
+		 * buffer recycler. This method disables these things by default, but can be overridden by setting the corresponding
+		 * system properties.
+		 */
+		private static void initializeNetty() {
+			/*
+			 * We disable three pieces of Netty functionality here:
+			 *  - we disable Netty from being unsafe
+			 *  - we disable Netty from replacing the selector key set
+			 *  - we disable Netty from using the recycler
+			 *
+			 * While permissions are needed to read and set these, the permissions needed here are innocuous and thus should simply be granted
+			 * rather than us handling a security exception here.
+			 */
+			setSystemPropertyIfUnset("io.netty.noUnsafe", Boolean.toString(true));
+			setSystemPropertyIfUnset("io.netty.noKeySetOptimization", Boolean.toString(true));
+			setSystemPropertyIfUnset("io.netty.recycler.maxCapacityPerThread", Integer.toString(0));
+		}
+
+		@SuppressForbidden(reason = "set system properties to configure Netty")
+		private static void setSystemPropertyIfUnset(final String key, final String value) {
+			final String currentValue = System.getProperty(key);
+			if (currentValue == null) {
+				System.setProperty(key, value);
+			}
+		}
+
+		private static final List<String> OPTIONAL_DEPENDENCIES = Arrays.asList( //
+				"org.elasticsearch.transport.Netty3Plugin", //
+				"org.elasticsearch.transport.Netty4Plugin");
+
+		private static final Collection<Class<? extends Plugin>> PRE_INSTALLED_PLUGINS;
+
+		static {
+
+			initializeNetty();
+
+			List<Class<? extends Plugin>> plugins = new ArrayList<>();
+			boolean found = false;
+
+			for (String dependency : OPTIONAL_DEPENDENCIES) {
+				try {
+					plugins.add((Class<? extends Plugin>) ClassUtils.forName(dependency,
+							SpringDataTransportClient.class.getClassLoader()));
+					found = true;
+				} catch (ClassNotFoundException | LinkageError e) {}
+			}
+			
+			Assert.state(found, "Neither Netty 3 or Netty 4 plugin found on the classpath. One of them is required to run the transport client!");
+
+			plugins.add(ReindexPlugin.class);
+			plugins.add(PercolatorPlugin.class);
+			plugins.add(MustachePlugin.class);
+			plugins.add(ParentJoinPlugin.class);
+
+			PRE_INSTALLED_PLUGINS = Collections.unmodifiableList(plugins);
+		}
+
+		public SpringDataTransportClient(Settings settings) {
+			super(settings, PRE_INSTALLED_PLUGINS);
+		}
+
+		@Override
+		public void close() {
+			super.close();
+			if (NetworkModule.TRANSPORT_TYPE_SETTING.exists(settings) == false
+					|| NetworkModule.TRANSPORT_TYPE_SETTING.get(settings).equals(Netty4Plugin.NETTY_TRANSPORT_NAME)) {
+				try {
+					GlobalEventExecutor.INSTANCE.awaitInactivity(5, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
+				} catch (InterruptedException e) {
+					Thread.currentThread().interrupt();
+				}
+				try {
+					ThreadDeathWatcher.awaitInactivity(5, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
+				} catch (InterruptedException e) {
+					Thread.currentThread().interrupt();
+				}
+			}
+		}
+	}
 }